CHAPTER ONE

A/N This isn't exactly my story. My friend NOM wrote it but she is too much of a lazy son of a bitch to make her own account. Enjoy! Reviews are welcome and constructive criticism is appreciated.

Lillian Power wasn't exactly observant but nine out of ten times when the person you're talking to just suddenly vanishes into thin air you're going to notice. She stood, utterly bemused at the empty space her father had been in seconds ago talking about how she would find new friends, that moving wasn't so bad.

"Uh, Dad?" Lillian reached out into the empty space and thrust her hand out, perhaps hoping her father had turned invisible and she wasn't going insane. Well, more than she already was but when her fingers closed on nothing she drew back suddenly and pressed herself against the wall. Possibilities entered her mind with panic. Serial killers, mutants or invisible fairy dust. Her throat tightened and she tensed the muscles in her stomach. Lillian stayed frozen to the spot she was in for a long ten seconds until she was utterly sure that no aliens or deranged fairies were going to beam her to a spaceship or eat her flesh. She relaxed against the wall and called for her father. "Dad!" There was only her panicked heartbeat and her sharp breathing that filled her ears. "Daddio!" Lillian shouted as she walked down the cramped hall and into the front garden "BRENDAN!" Lillian roared into her cupped hand and when no one replied she got really pissed.

She turned to face the house and ran a hand through her hair. Lillian's red hair curled past her shoulders in messy curls that often stuck out at odd angles. She didn't look anything like her father but she had her mother's wild, untameable hair. Lillian often had the urge to hack the hair off with a scissors sometimes but the memory of her mother and the similarity stopped her from doing this.

She didn't have a stupid sap story; she didn't cut herself and she wasn't a god dammed mute either. Deaths never really affected her in a way that they should affect the average Jo. Her mother died giving birth to her and her father raised her. Simple, shit happens. Lillian never really got upset over this as she never knew her mother but her dad had often described her as "Shy, sweet and was a little bit of a push-over." That summed Lillian up nicely apart from everything. She wasn't shy or sweet and she definitely wasn't a push-over, no thank you madam. Lillian didn't exactly have an issue in telling people that her mother was dead. Her father on the other hand would get teary and wail to Lillian that she was the image of her mother while she would stand awkwardly in the sidelines, offering him a Kleenex.

The town was too quite. It felt as if a great calm had settled upon Perdido Beach. No cars were moving and in the distance she could hear the wail of three or four car alarms and a ringing in her ears.

Lillian ran back inside, slipping and sliding down the hall, tripped into the kitchen and wrenched open the kitchen drawer. As the thought "Alien invasion" crossed her mind she became more paranoid than healthy. She pulled out a knife that would be suited very well for stabbing and slipped into her hoodie pockets. She walked hesitantly into the sitting room and turned on the television but only static crossed the screen. Elise frowned and picked up the phone to call... Someone, perhaps the guards or an ambulance to ensure that she wasn't insane but all she could hear was the dial tone. She glared at the phone and flung it back in the cradle.

She ran upstairs to her room and grabbed her new school bag. Dumping all of the new books on the ground she muttered "Great time to move town." and packed some clothes, a small first aid kit that wouldn't do jack-shit and a bottle of water and a few cereal bars. Clutching the sharp kitchen knife in her deep pants pockets she flung open the door. Lillian marched down the street with her hand shaking in her pocket when she spotted the smoke.

Oh shit.

Dark, ugly clouds were rising from a tall building. She could see tongues of fire licking at the walls and before the thought could penetrate her kind, Lillian was running. She sprinted down San Pablo Avenue until the building came into view.

It was an apartment block. It was heavily on fire and smoke was rising in death clouds that choked Lillian even from that distance. She could see a good looking boy who looked her and had that "beach boy" look of blonde highlights and pretty blue eyes. He was shouting something but all Lillian could hear was "We are the fire department!" and that was when a large explosion came from the house. Her vision was blinded for a few seconds as her eyes were stinging, filled with tears from the smoke.

Children were gathered around the apartment with expressions of wonder and fear. Lillian stared at a pretty blonde girl tying a cloth around beach boy's face. The way her hand lingered at his cheek Lillian knew that there was something special between them. The pretty boy the turned around and ran into the building. It was silent for a few minutes apart from the whoosh of fire until the fire truck was driven shakily down the road. A Mexican looking boy jumped out of the truck along with another and then shouted at others to help him. They dragged the gear down the road and set up the ladder up the wall. Lillian could see a small body being dragged out of the building and carried down the ladder. The Mexican looking boy stared hopelessly at the girl."Does anyone here now first aid?" he shouted over the crackling of the fire. Lillian looked at the shaking of heads until she stepped forward."I do."

Edilio was panicking as he stared down at the little girls face. She was no longer breathing and she looked ashen, pale under the chalky dust that covered her face. Half of her hair was burned off and her clothes hung in tatters. He carried her along the path and laid her gently on the ground. His eyes searched the crowd. "Does anyone here know first aid?" Edilio called, his voice cracking over the smoke and the hopelessness of the situation but then a girl stepped forward.

She looked like one of those Celtic female warriors with flaming red hair and dark green eyes. She was beautiful in her own alien way but what completed the warrior image was a thin silver scar that started near her right eyebrow and curved down her face to her jawbone. Her hair was a wild mess of curls that flopped in her eye when she bent down to examine the girl. Edilio crouched down to see if the girl was alright.

"Go Mexican boy, save the day." The red-head shouted over the crackling of the fire. Edilio nodded and turned back to the fire. He saw Sam being dragged down the ladder and over to where Elise was.

Sam awoke. His cheek stung from where Astrid had slapped him.

"Sorry, I had to wake you up." She explained. Sam didn't care. He searched for the little girl when his eyes caught a red headed girl over the five year old with a hopeless expression. He saw her hold her head in her hands and swear extravagantly.

Sam stood up, a little wobbly after throwing up and inhaling a house worth of smoke and staggered over to the girl. When his shadow fell over her she looked up. He took in her appearance quickly and asked the question he was dreading. "Is... Is she OK?"

"Does she look OK?" she replied bitterly. She sighed and rubbed her temples "Sorry. I always get a little sarcastic after I see a little girl die."

"It's..." Sam faltered at the force of her words and realized he had never seen her before. Not in school or in town. "What's your name?" after a pause he said "I'm Sam."

The girl stood up in one fluid motion, coughed into her elbow and nodded. "Lillian Power." She smirked "M'lady."

"I need to find him." Astrid pleaded with Sam. Lillian watched idly as yours truly pondered this between every god dammed kid toddling up to him and asking him was it going to be OK. The answer to that, kiddies, is probably not. Sam did well at reassuring them, though. He told them not to panic; their parents would be home soon and much to Lillian's amusement, to have a cookie.

Lillian was sitting beside Quinn who was watching everyone as if they were going to bite him. His eyes darted from one face to another and finally to Sam's with a half panicked glare.

They had checked the houses but there was neither hide nor hair of them. She refused to check her own house. She knew what she would find: emptiness just like the other houses.

Lillian had one brother. He was taking a year off of school to travel and have fun. He was free of dad's weepiness and his annoying tendency to enter the room without knocking and leaving the room with closing the door. Lillian had built a lock in the door to stop that from happening.

Lillian was getting sick of every bloody kid asking Sam stupid questions. She sighed, rolled her shoulders and stalked over to the "couple of the century". "Look," Lillian started to catch their attention. When they turned to her she continued. "Let's just find Little Patrick, OK?"

"It's Pete." Astrid snapped. Man, she did not like Barbie.

"Barbie, look at my face. Can't you see I don't care?" Lillian ran a hand through her hair and sighed. "Let's just find the little bugger so all of Sam's kids can stop pissing me off already."

"They're not my kids!"

Sam gave her a fleeting glance before turning to Quinn. "Come on, brah. We're going to find L.P." He held out a hand to Quinn and reluctantly he took it. "Where would he be?"

"Hmmm..." Astrid paused "He might be at the Cliff top and if my dad's minding him he'll be at P.B.N.P."

"P.B.N.P?" Lillian asked.

"It's the power plant." Sam replied.

"Cool."

Sam gave another fleeting glance and he tried to take in what Lillian really looked life without Astrid noticing. The first thing was the scars on her face. He had asked her where they had come from and she just smirked "Some bastard dog raked my across the face. I think the scars are kinda cool. Y'know, like a warrior." Her curly hair was tied back in a loose ponytail but some wild curls still flopped in her eyes. Her body was oddly shaped, as if with every step her body curved to each step. She reminded Sam of a lioness with her mane of hair and sharp eyes. Lillian wasn't beautiful like Astrid but she did have beautiful eyes and a nice face. She was dressed in a green blouse and dark denim shorts that came to the knee.

Sam shook his head, realizing he had been staring at Lillian for too long. He could almost feel Astrid's gaze burning through his skull. Edilio raised an eyebrow at Sam which he ignored.

"Soooooo..." Lillian drawled "Why's Perdido beach called a fallout alley?"

"It was the meteorite that crashed about fourteen years ago." Astrid began

"Yeah I heard about that."

"Anyway, the meteor crashed into the reactor and carried it underground. If it wasn't going at such a high speed the radiation would have killed everyone." Astrid blessed herself "One man died. He was working in the reactor when it happened."

"Wow, no wonder no one wants to live here." Lillian said bluntly and turned her gaze to the approaching hotel. "Nice place you got here."

Sam smiled and nodded to the beach. "The best waves are at the Cliff top."

"They allow you to surf in the hotel?" Lillian asked with a serious face. It took Sam a few seconds to realize that she was joking.

"Man that was terrible." Sam chuckled and he held open the door for them. As Lillian passed he could hear her muttering "Such the gentleman." And he hid his smile. They walked out the back door and into the tennis court. The court was eerily empty. As they approached the tennis racquet that looked as if it had just fallen on the ground they encountered something.

A wall.

It looked flimsy and if you took a needle to it the wall would pop. It was a blank grey colour and it shimmered slightly. Sam walked towards it before he felt himself being yanked back.

"You twat. You don't just walk towards things like that. That's what the blonde with big tits always does in the movies and she ends up dead." Lillian ranted.

"OK, look." Sam picked up a tennis ball, stepped hesitantly towards the wall and threw the ball at the barrier. He felt Lillian flinch as the ball made contact with the barrier but nothing happened. The ball simply bounced off the wall. Sam walked cautiously over to the wall and hesitantly pressed three fingers to it. The pain was like a burn. It seared through his hand. "Ow! Oh shit that hurts"" Sam yelled as he shook his hand, trying to throw off the pain. Astrid walked over and took his hand in hers.

"It looks fine to me." She flipped his hand over to see if there was any mark but all she could feel was the callused hands of a very dedicated surfer.

"Yeah well it burned." Sam replied, liking the feel of Astrid's cold hands. He could see Lillian staring at him with an eyebrow raised that was saying I told you so. "Shut up." He snapped at Lillian who put on an unconvincing innocent expression and ruined it completely by turning away and smiling.

Quinn stood up sharply. He grabbed a racquet and hit it against the barrier. The wall didn't change but Quinn's expression darkened further. He grabbed one of the metal chair and slammed it against the wall. He was thrown back slightly at the impact and his shoulder jarred slightly but he ignored it as his hit the wall again, and again and again. He could vaguely hear a rant of swear words and death threats as he battered the wall but it didn't register that it was him. He kept hitting the wall with a burning fury until something in his snapped. His eyes filled with tears and he just slumped onto the ground, put his hands on his head and howled.

Lillian inserted the card into the slit in the door and the light turned green and they entered. They had searched everywhere for Pete but he was nowhere to be found. They had made their way up to the suites and found a room that the key suited. Quinn staggered in and flopped down on one of the queen sized beds "Boys room." He shouted and he fell asleep, face down on the bed fully clothed.

The room consisted of two bedrooms, a plasma T.V. that did not work, a fridge stocked with sweets, a half kitchen and a bathroom. It meant that one of them was going to have to share a bed or one would have to sleep on the couch. Sam looked at Astrid who would definitely not share a bed and then to Lillian. "I'll take the couch." Sam mumbled tiredly and he fell onto the couch. Lillian noticed the look Astrid was giving to Sam and the glare that was especially reserved for her. "Night, Barbie," Lillian called as she strolled into her room, ignoring Astrid's outburst of "I'm not Barbie!" and she fell onto the bed.

Lillian pulled off her clothes, leaving on a loose tank top and female boxers. She grabbed a facecloth and wiped off the make-up. When her face was clean she lept under the duvet and snuggled into the covers happily. In one day she had tried to save a girl, and failed and before she fell asleep a ridiculous thought entered her mind: Y'know, this is the first time I've ever slept fifty meters away from an impenetrable barrier. Ah, Summer memories.